Collective Community Response to Homelessness Demonstration Project.
Much of the day-to-day responsibility for addressing the needs of the thousands of men, women and children in Calgary who are homeless is borne by community organizations that are stretched to their limits in time and money. The Collective Community Response to Homelessness Demonstration Project (“the CCRH Project”) was created to join the forces of community-minded organizations to provide a multi-sectoral, collective response to the needs of clients who are homeless or at risk of being homeless.With funding support from the federal government, seven agencies were brought together by Capacity Builders to form the initial community partners for the CCRH Project. These agencies spanned a wide variety of sectors, including Addictions, Family, Mental Health and Domestic Violence.
In its first year, the CCRH Project has demonstrated a number of successes. Together, the group has established 30 joint venture projects related to the provision of food among homeless clients in numerous homeless sectors Unique in Calgary, the CCRH Project is also creating a prototype for how agencies across Canadian cities can collaborate in a way that serves individual agency self-interest, provides mutual benefits and leverages services as a whole.